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Bulgarian test case fights for more pay
Page 6
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Eastern European truck drivers may have the minimum wage enforced by the Inland Revenue. Guy Sheppard reports.
TRUCK DRIVERS from eastern Europe could get a hefty rise and thousands of pounds in back pay because they receive well below the National Minimum Wage (NMW) while working in the UK. Two Transport & General Workers Union branch secretaries aim to launch a test case on behalf of a Bulgarian driver employed by German-based Willi Betz, which they criticise for employing non EU drivers on much lower wages.
Jimmy Hill and Rachel Webb, who represent T&G drivers in the West Midlands and Sussex, claim some Betz drivers receive as little as £60 a week because they are paid on mileage and often have to wait long periods for loads while working in the UK.
Officials from the Inland Revenue, which enforces the £4.50-anhour NMW, are investigating the Bulgarian's case.
According to the government's guide on the NMW: "Foreign workers working in the UK are entitled to the NMW in exactly the same way as any other worker regardless of how long or short their stay may be."
Hill estimates several hundred drivers could qualify for back pay, some as far back as 1999 when the NMW was introduced. -It would be fantastic if w could win this case," he says. "Ot concern is that UK hauliers wi start looking to eastern Europ for cheap labour, particularly t the EU is being expanded thet this year." However, neither Bu garia nor Romania will be in th first wave of countries to join.
He warns that this could unde mine the union's campaign for minimum £10-an-hour when it Working Time Directive is intri duced next year.
Hill and Webb say they unco: ered "diabolical" pay levels amor eastern European drivers during survey they carried out at Thu rock service station on the NC last year (CM 27 November).
The T&G has also translated recruitment leaflet into Bulgaria promising to support foreign dri ers who join.